LONDON: Saudi music entertainment company MDLBEAST announced the launch of a new music publishing arm on Tuesday, marking a significant expansion in the regional music industry.
MDLBEAST Publishing will support songwriters, producers, and artists across Saudi Arabia, the Middle East, and North Africa, providing a range of services in areas such as broadcasting rights, intellectual property management, and financial rights for creators.
Talal Albahiti, MDLBEAST’s COO and head of music, described the initiative as a “pioneering and unique model in the music publishing sector” for both the Kingdom and the broader region.
“With the recent launch of MDLBEAST FM Radio, our music brand partnerships team, and the recording studios at Beast House in Jax, we now offer a comprehensive range of services to meet the commercial development needs of the creative community, artists, music producers, and songwriters,” he said.
MDLBEAST said it will collaborate closely with local, regional, and global music rights organizations, including Sentric, a British independent music publisher specializing in emerging artists.
The partnership will address challenges related to music broadcast, performance, and the representation of authors’ rights, ensuring global representation for creators and rightful earnings through royalties for reproduction, printing, performance, and broadcasting rights.
As the Arabic music industry continues to expand, MDLBEAST said the new initiative will also help to increase the commercial appeal and discoverability of its catalog, which includes 300 master rights.
The company, which has already secured sync placements with high-profile networks and partners such as Netflix, Spotify, and MBC, said that its new venture will provide an opportunity to bring “its eclectic catalog to the global network of music supervisors” in an effort to “forge a pathway to the discovery of Middle Eastern and North African sounds.”
MDLBEAST Publishing builds on similar initiatives aimed at growing the local music market and supporting a new generation of talent.
In 2023, the company launched a writing and production camps program to support homegrown artists through a mix of workshops and private sessions with industry professionals.
The program, which has been highly successful, has benefited 20 artists to date, including some of the Kingdom’s highest-profile electronic music artists, such as Cosmicat, Jeme, Vigion, LeSad, Malkin, Emad, and Dish Dash. The program is set to continue this year.
